150
KING LEAR 1.1: Teaching Notes The lists and tables here are intended to help an instructor see more quickly some of the textual elements worth exploring in the opening scene of King Lear. Text and performance considerations necessarily wait on each other. But, as Professor Miriam Gilbert of the University of Iowa points out, questions about the text come first, then questions about performance.1 The vocabulary list divides words, somewhat arbitrarily, into three categories. The first is made up of some that many students might see as obsolete but that in fact appear in the contemporary, though often formal, writing of educated speakers of English. The second consists of words now obsolete; these are glossed in most editions of the play. The third contains the dangerous words, those most students know but not with the meaning they have in the text. ‘Appear,’ for example, in Gloucester’s comment that “it appears not which of the Dukes he values most,” (4) has the now lost meaning of ‘to be apparent, clear, or obvious.’ Often the combination of context and cognates will help, as with Lear’s “To thee and thine hereditary ever / Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom….” (76‐77) The word ‘hereditary’ appears to be our modern adjective, but the context makes it clear that Lear uses it here as a noun. The word’s lexical associations should help a reader recognize that it stands where we would use the noun ‘heirs.’ For many, though, a modern ear will have to rely on an understanding of character, theme, and tone to discern a problem. Reading ‘sometime’ in Lear’s calling Cordelia “my sometime daughter” (117) with the sense of occasional or on‐and‐off does damage to the line that Shakespeare intends as an abrupt renunciation, the culmination of a rejection so strong that it prompts Kent’s first cry of protest. The play’s opening scene provides examples of the use of the ‘thou/thee’ forms that reward investigation. Lear uses ‘thee’ throughout to pull Goneril and Regan emotionally closer to himself. Ironically, he will use it to cast Cordelia aside. He has called her ‘you’ from the start: “What can you say…” (82) “your sisters” (83), “Mend your speech….” (91), “…mar your fortunes” (92) The you form normally shows respect; thou and thee mark a lack of respect, either because affection makes respect unnecessary or because words and actions have overcome any respect. So the ‘familiar’ form can be affectionate or denigrating. Sir Ian McKellen wears two wedding rings as Lear in the 2007 Royal Shakespeare Company production, telling Paul Lieberman in an interview that the king married twice, once to the mother of the depraved older daughters, then to a “beloved second Queen Lear [who] died in childbirth….”2 From what Lieberman calls the “complex feelings in the recesses of the king’s mind,” may grow the respect he shows Cordelia But when she gives him a response he does not want, he first shifts to the familiar to remind her that she is his child and must show obedience— “But goes thy heart with this?” (103). When that fails, the familiar becomes the withering medium of his curse: “Let it be so: thy truth then be thy dower!” (105) Shakespeare reinforces the notion when he has Lear revert to calling Cordelia ‘you,’ when they are reunited in Act 5, even before he acknowledges that he recognizes her. We can speculate on other relationships. Goneril and Regan, incapable of affection, use the polite forms even on each other. Lear calls France “you,” but shifts when France takes up Cordelia, “Thou hast her, France, let her be thine….” (259) France and Kent call Cordelia “thou’; Goneril and Burgundy call her “you.” Clearly, there’s food for interpretative study. The prosody of the play’s opening scene can lead into rich discussion. Shakespeare clearly marks the distinction between the court assembly that dominates the scene and the more private conversations that begin and end it. Lear’s commanding presence changes the lines to verse, where they stay until he exits. Noticing where, how, and why the two shifts occur will prepare a tool that will become more and more useful throughout the play. Shakespeare will have characters share lines of blank verse, sometimes to pull them close to each other, sometimes to underscore conflict. In this scene the most dramatic examples lie in the increasingly fiery exchange between Lear and Kent who interrupt each other’s lines, if not always each other’s speech, no fewer than seven times in the forty‐six lines that pick up speed from the pattern (117‐163). Shakespeare begins to draw France and Cordelia together when he has them share line 220, although both are talking to Lear. By their next shared line, though, France is easing her away from the family that has turned on her, “Well may you prosper! / Come, my fair Cordelia.” (279) Neither Goneril nor Regan shares a line with anyone else until they unite to “gang up” on Cordelia, “[Regan] Prescribe not us our duty. [Goneril] Let your study / Be to content your lord….” (273‐74). Finally we list the antitheses that so enhance France’s taking up of Cordelia. They come ‘in happy time,’ too, helping to smooth into courteous behavior what could be played as rougher treatment of a Cordelia who has not openly consented to the bargain. (Does she look wistfully back at Burgundy as she leaves?) 1
Miriam Gilbert. Lecture. The Shakespeare Center, Stratford‐upon‐
Avon. 19 June 2007. 2
Ian McKellen, interviewed by Paul Lieberman for “The Knight Who Would Be King,” Los Angeles Times, 14 October 2007, F1, Print. 151
Shakespeare: King Lear D Act 1, Scene 1
10 15 20 25 Enter Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund.
Kent I thought the King had more affected the Duke of Albany than Cornwall. Gloucester It did always seem so to us; but now in the division of the kingdom, it appears not which of the Dukes he values most, for equalities are so weighed, that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety.
Kent Is not this your son, my lord?
Gloucester His breeding, sir, hath been at my charge. I have so often
blushed to acknowledge him, that now I am brazed to't.
Kent I cannot conceive you. Gloucester Sir, this young fellow's mother could; whereupon she grew round wombed, and had indeed, sir, a son for her cradle ere she had a husband for her bed. Do you smell a fault? Kent I cannot wish the fault undone, the issue of it being so proper. Gloucester But I have a son, sir, by order of law, some year elder than this, who yet is no dearer in my account. Though this knave came something saucily to the world before he was sent for, yet was his mother fair, there was good sport at his making, and the whoreson must be acknowledged. Do you know this noble gentleman, Edmund?
Edmund No, my lord. Gloucester My Lord of Kent. Remember him hereafter as my honourable friend. Edmund My services to your lordship.
Kent I must love you, and sue to know you better.
Edmund Sir, I shall study deserving. Gloucester He hath been out nine years, and away he shall again. [Sound a sennet.] The King is coming.
30 Enter one with a coronet, King Lear, Cornwall, Albany, Goneril, Regan, Cordelia, and attendants. Lear
Gloucester
Lear
35 40 45 50 55 I shall, my lord.
Exit with Edmund Attend the lords of France and Burgundy, Gloucester. Goneril
Mean time we shall express our darker purpose.
Give me the map there. Know that we have divided
In three our kingdom; and 'tis our fast intent
To shake all cares and business from our age,
Conferring them on younger strengths, while we
Unburthen'd crawl toward death. Our son of Cornwall, And you, our no less loving son of Albany,
We have this hour a constant will to publish
Our daughters' several dowers, that future strife
May be prevented now. The princes, France and Burgundy, Great rivals in our youngest daughter's love,
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn,
And here are to be answer'd. Tell me, my daughters
(Since now we will divest us both of rule,
Interest of territory, cares of state),
Which of you shall we say doth love us most,
That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge? Goneril,
Our eldest born, speak first. Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty,
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare,
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour;
As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found;
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable:
Beyond all manner of so much I love you.
152
60 65 70 75 80 85 90 Cordelia [Aside] What shall Cordelia speak? Love, and be silent.
Lear Regan Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd,
With plenteous rivers and wide‐skirted meads,
We make thee lady. To thine and Albany's [issue]
Be this perpetual. What says our second daughter,
Our dearest Regan, wife of Cornwall? Speak.
I am made of that self metal as my sister,
And prize me at her worth. In my true heart
I find she names my very deed of love;
Only she comes too short, that I profess Myself an enemy to all other joys
Which the most precious square of sense possesses, And find I am alone felicitate In your dear Highness' love. Cordelia [Aside] Then poor Cordelia! And yet not so, since I am sure my love's
More ponderous than my tongue.
Lear To thee and thine hereditary ever
Remain this ample third of our fair kingdom,
No less in space, validity, and pleasure,
Than that conferred on Goneril. — Now, our joy,
Although our last and least, to whose young love
The vines of France and milk of Burgundy
Strive to be interess'd, what can you say to draw
A third more opulent than your sisters'? Speak.
Cordelia Nothing, my lord. Cordelia
95 100 Lear
Cordelia
Lear
So young, and so untender?
Cordelia
So young, my lord, and true.
105 Lear
110 115 Lear Nothing? Kent
Cordelia Nothing. Lear
Lear Nothing will come of nothing, speak again.
Cordelia Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave
My heart into my mouth. I love your Majesty
According to my bond, no more nor less.
Lear How, how, Cordelia? Mend your speech a little,
Lest you may mar your fortunes. Good my lord, You have begot me, bred me, lov'd me: I
Return those duties back as are right fit,
Obey you, love you, and most honour you.
Why have my sisters husbands, if they say
They love you all? Happily, when I shall wed,
That lord whose hand must take my plight shall carry Half my love with him, half my care and duty.
Sure I shall never marry like my sisters,
To love my father all.
120 125 But goes thy heart with this?
Ay, my good lord.
Let it be so: thy truth then be thy dower!
For by the sacred radiance of the sun,
The mysteries of Hecate and the night;
By all the operation of the orbs,
From whom we do exist and cease to be;
Here I disclaim all my paternal care,
Propinquity and property of blood, And as a stranger to my heart and me
Hold thee from this for ever. The barbarous Scythian, Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite, shall to my bosom
Be as well neighbour'd, pitied, and reliev'd,
As thou my sometime daughter.
Good my liege —
Peace, Kent!
Come not between the dragon and his wrath;
I loved her most, and thought to set my rest
On her kind nursery. [to Cordelia.] Hence, and avoid my sight! So be my grave my peace, as here I give
Her father's heart from her. Call France. Who stirs?
Call Burgundy. Cornwall and Albany,
With my two daughters' dowers digest the third;
153
Kent 140 Lear The bow is bent and drawn, make from the shaft.
Kent 130 135 145 150 155 Let pride, which she calls plainness, marry her.
I do invest you jointly with my power,
Pre‐eminence, and all the large effects
That troop with majesty. Ourself, by monthly course,
With reservation of an hundred knights
By you to be sustained, shall our abode
Make with you by due turn. Only we shall retain
The name, and all th' addition to a king;
The sway, revenue, execution of the rest, Beloved sons, be yours, which to confirm, This coronet part between you.
Royal Lear,
Whom I have ever honoured as my king,
Loved as my father, as my master followed,
As my great patron thought on in my prayers —
160 165 170 Lear Kent Lear My life I never held but as a pawn
To wage against thine enemies, nor fear to lose it, Thy safety being motive. Out of my sight!
Lear Now, by Apollo — Kent 175 O vassal! Miscreant [Starts to draw Alb & Dear sir, forbear.
Corn. Kent Kill thy physician, and the fee bestow
Upon the foul disease. Revoke thy gift,
Or whilst I can vent clamor from my throat,
I'll tell thee thou dost evil.
Lear
Hear me, recreant,
On thine allegiance, hear me!
That thou hast sought to make us break our vows,
Which we durst never yet, and with strain'd pride
To come betwixt our sentence and our power,
Which nor our nature nor our place can bear,
Our potency made good, take thy reward. Five days we do allot thee, for provision
To shield thee from disasters of the world, And on the sixth to turn thy hated back Upon our kingdom. If, on the tenth day following,
Thy banished trunk be found in our dominions,
The moment is thy death. Away! By Jupiter,
This shall not be revok'd.
Fare thee well, King; sith thus thou wilt appear,
Freedom lives hence, and banishment is here.
[To Cordelia.] The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, That justly think'st and hast most rightly said!
[To Regan and Goneril.] And your large speeches may your deeds approve, That good effects may spring from words of love.
Thus Kent, O princes, bids you all adieu,
He'll shape his old course in a country new.
Exit Flourish. Enter Gloucester with France and Burgundy, attendants. Kent
180 185 Now, by Apollo, King,
Lear
his sword.] Let it fall rather, though the fork invade
The region of my heart; be Kent unmannerly
When Lear is mad. What wouldst thou do, old man?
Think'st thou that duty shall have dread to speak
When power to flattery bows? To plainness honour’s bound, When majesty falls to folly. Reserve thy state,
And in thy best consideration check
This hideous rashness. Answer my life my judgment,
Thy youngest daughter does not love thee least,
Nor are those empty‐hearted whose low sounds
Reverb no hollowness. Kent, on thy life, no more. Kent See better, Lear, and let me still remain
The true blank of thine eye. Thou swear'st thy gods in vain.
Cordelia ?
Lear
Here's France and Burgundy, my noble lord.
My Lord of Burgundy, We first address toward you, who with this king
Hath rivalled for our daughter. What, in the least, 154
190 195 200 205 210 215 220 Will you require in present dower with her, Or cease your quest of love?
Burgundy Most royal Majesty,
I crave no more than hath your Highness offered,
Nor will you tender less. Lear Right noble Burgundy,
When she was dear to us, we did hold her so,
But now her price is fallen. Sir, there she stands:
If aught within that little seeming substance,
Or all of it, with our displeasure pieced,
And nothing more, may fitly like your Grace, She's there, and she is yours.
Burgundy Lear I know no answer. Will you, with those infirmities she owes, Unfriended, new adopted to our hate,
Dowered with our curse, and strangered with our oath,
Take her, or leave her? Burgundy Pardon me, royal sir,
Election makes not up in such conditions.
Lear France Cordelia Then leave her, sir, for by the power that made me,
I tell you all her wealth. [To France.] For you, great King,
I would not from your love make such a stray
To match you where I hate; therefore beseech you
T' avert your liking a more worthier way
Than on a wretch whom Nature is ashamed
Almost t' acknowledge hers.
This is most strange,
That she, whom even but now was your best object,
The argument of your praise, balm of your age,
The best, the dearest, should in this trice of time
Commit a thing so monstrous, to dismantle
So many folds of favour. Sure her offence Must be of such unnatural degree
That monsters it, or your fore‐vouch'd affection Fall into taint; which to believe of her Must be a faith that reason without miracle
Should never plant in me. I yet beseech your Majesty —
225 230 Lear
France
235 Burgundy
240 Lear
Burgundy
Cordelia
245 250 255 France
If for I want that glib and oily art
To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,
I'll do't before I speak — that you make known
It is no vicious blot, murther, or foulness,
No unchaste action, or dishonoured step,
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour,
But even for want of that for which I am richer —
A still‐soliciting eye, and such a tongue
That I am glad I have not, though not to have it
Hath lost me in your liking.
Better thou
Hadst not been born than not t' have pleased me better. Is it but this — a tardiness in nature
Which often leaves the history unspoke
That it intends to do? My Lord of Burgundy,
What say you to the lady? Love's not love
When it is mingled with regards that stands Aloof from th' entire point. Will you have her?
She is herself a dowry. Royal King, Give but that portion which yourself proposed,
And here I take Cordelia by the hand,
Duchess of Burgundy.
Nothing. I have sworn, I am firm.
I am sorry then you have so lost a father
That you must lose a husband.
Peace be with Burgundy!
Since that respect and fortune are his love,
I shall not be his wife.
Fairest Cordelia, that art most rich being poor,
Most choice forsaken, and most loved despised,
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon,
Be it lawful I take up what's cast away.
Gods, gods! 'tis strange that from their cold'st neglect My love should kindle to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter, King, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy
155
260 265 270 275 280 285 Can buy this unprized precious maid of me. Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind,
Thou losest here, a better where to find. 290 [Flourish. Exeunt all but France, Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia]
France Bid farewell to your sisters.
Cordelia The jewels of our father, with washed eyes
Cordelia leaves you. I know you what you are,
And like a sister am most loath to call
Your faults as they are named. Love well our father;
To your professed bosoms I commit him,
But yet, alas, stood I within his grace,
I would prefer him to a better place.
So farewell to you both. Regan Goneril Prescribe not us our duty. Let your study
Be to content your lord, who hath received you At fortune's alms. You have obedience scanted,
And well are worth the want that you have wanted. Cordelia France Goneril
Thou hast her, France, let her be thine, for we
Have no such daughter, nor shall ever see
That face of hers again. [to Cordelia.] Therefore be gone,
Without our grace, our love, our benison. —
Come, noble Burgundy. Lear known himself.
295 Regan
Such unconstant starts are we like to have from him as this of Kent's banishment.
Goneril
300 Regan
Goneril
The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash; then must we look from his age to receive not alone the imperfections of long‐ingraffed condition, but therewithal the unruly waywardness that infirm and choleric years bring with them.
There is further compliment of leave‐taking between France and him. Pray you let us hit together; if our father carry authority with such disposition as he bears, this last surrender of his will but offend us.
We shall further think of it.
We must do something, and i' th' heat.
[Exeunt.] Time shall unfold what plighted cunning hides,
Who covers faults, at last with shame derides.
Well may you prosper! Come, my fair Cordelia.
[Exeunt France and Cordelia.]
Goneril Sister, it is not little I have to say of what most nearly appertains to us both. I think our father will hence to‐night. Regan That's most certain, and with you; next month with us.
Goneril You see how full of changes his age is; the observation we have made of it hath not been little. He always loved our
sister most, and with what poor judgment he hath now
cast her off appears too grossly.
Regan 'Tis the infirmity of his age, yet he hath ever but slenderly 156
KING LEAR 1.1 Teaching Notes for a Close Reading Exercise 1. Vocabulary Obsolete words Current words line word 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 6 9 19 43 43 51 60 61 62 75 83 105 111 114 121 158 195 207 213 275 293 moiety brazen (v) saucily amorous sojourn wield champaign mead issue ponderous opulent dower propinquity mess hence vassal aught beseech trice alms choleric 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
line
word
21
71
82
158
159
166
168
177
195
291
whoreson
felicitate ?
interess
miscreant
forbear
durst
nor… nor…
sith
aught / naught
therewhital
‘Danger’ words 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
line
word
4
10
15
20
27
34
39
40
48
52
65
65
70
76
91
94
97
114
117
121
141
144
146
152
192
197
211
215
221
222
239
273
298
appears
conceive
issue
fair
study
fast
constant
several
bounty
space
self
metal
square
hereditary
how
fit
happily
mess
sometime(s)
nursery
fork
dread
reserve
pawn
right
like
even
fold
want
purpose
portion
study
hit
157
2. Familiar and Formal Address Characters who use formal address: Characters who use ‘familiar’ address: Speaker addressed form line speaker Kent
to
Gloucester
you
7
France
Gloucester
to
Edmund
you
13
Lear
Edmund
to
Kent
you
25
Lear
Kent
to
Edmund
you
26
Kent
Lear
to
Albany
you
38
Kent
addressed to Cordelia
to Goneril
to Regan
to Cordelia
to Lear
form line art
247
thee
62
thee
76
thee
179
thou
143
thou
259
thy
102
thy
151
Goneril
to
Lear
you
51
Lear
Regan
to
Lear
you
72
Lear
to France
to Cordelia
Lear
to
Cordelia
you
82
Lear
to Kent
Cordelia
to
Lear
you
89
Lear
to
Burgundy
you
187
Summary Burgundy
to
Lear
you
191
Lear
to
France
you
205
France
to
Burgundy
you
235
Burgundy
to
Cordelia
you
243
Goneril
to
Cordelia
you
273
Regan
to
Goneril
you
283
There are 26 pairs of characters 8 use the familiar forms (5 of those are Lear) 1 character changes his form of address (Lear to Cordelia) Goneril
to
Regan
you
284
France
to
Lear
your
211
3. Prosody Lines 1‐31 are prose (Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund) Lines 32‐279 are verse (the court scene) Lines 280‐302 are prose (Goneril and Regan) So: Prose accounts for 54 lines, or 18% of the scene Verse accounts for 248 lines or 82% of the scene No character uses any prose while King Lear is on stage. Lear has the first line of blank verse; Cordelia has the last. When Goneril and Regan are left alone, they fall immediately into prose. Both Kent and Gloucester change from prose to blank verse when Lear enters. 158
4. Shared Lines Line Begun by Ended by Line Begun by Ended by 92 102 117 136 151 154 157 158 163 190 192 Lear Lear Lear Lear Kent Kent Lear Kent Kent Lear Burgundy Cordelia Cordelia Kent Kent Lear Lear Kent Lear Lear Burgundy Lear 198 203 210 220 230 238 244 264 273 279 Lear Lear Lear France Cordelia France Burgundy Lear Regan Cordelia Burgundy Burgundy France Cordelia Lear Burgundy Cordelia France Goneril France 5. Antithesis France’s speech on Cordelia: line 247 rich poor 248 choice forsaken 248 loved despised 250 take up cast away 251‐52 cold inflamed 251‐52 neglect respect 253 dowerless queen 256 unprized precious 159
KING LEAR 1.1 Text Questions
Familiar forms of address

Does Shakespeare have Burgundy address Cordelia as you or thou? Why? Does he have France address Cordelia as you or thou? Why? 
Lear calls Cordelia you in lines 82, 91, and 92. But he shifts to thy in line 102 and will not call her you again. Why does Shakespeare have him change? 
Why does Lear say call Goneril and Regan thou/thee/thy in lines 62 and 76, while he is still calling Cordelia you? 
Kent addresses Lear by titles only, without pronouns, calling him “good my liege,” “Royal Lear,” “my king… my father… my master… my great patron.” Why does he shift suddenly to thou in line 143? Prosody

Why does Shakespeare have Kent, Gloucester, and Edmund speak in prose in lines 1‐31? Why does he shift to verse for the court scene of lines 32‐279? Why does he shift back to prose for the balance of the scene? 
To which character does Shakespeare give the first line of blank verse in the scene? What comment might he be making about him? To which character does Shakespeare give the last line of blank verse in the scene? What comment might he be making about her? Shared Lines

Shakespeare will often have two characters share a line of blank verse, usually to subtly indicate a closeness, sometimes to quicken the pace of an exchange. (Occasionally it’s not Shakespeare at all but a type compositor or editor who has split the line.) What purposes can we reasonably attribute to the sharing of the following lines? 
Lear and Kent in lines 117 and 136 
Lear and France in line 264 
Kent and Lear in lines 154 and 158 
Regan and Goneril in line 273 
Lear and Burgundy in lines 190 and 198 
Cordelia and France in line 279 160
Antithesis and Paradox

Shakespeare structures the King of France’s comment on Cordelia around a set of antitheses, beginning with rich—poor in line 247. List six or seven more examples from that speech. Then decide what impression of Cordelia they are intended to make on the audience. What impression of France do they create? What impression of Lear? of Burgundy? Word Order

Shakespeare will alter the normal order of words in an English sentence in order to keep the meter of a line of verse or to emphasize a word or phrase by moving it to the end of a phase or sentence. Rewrite the following lines, putting the words back in their normal order. Then decide why he makes each change. (Words have been omitted in some places here; you do not need to replace them.) 
he… shall to my bosom/Be as well neighbour’d… As thou my sometime daughter. (114‐117) 
Ourself, by monthly course, With reservation of an hundred knights By you to be sustained, shall our abode Make with you by due turn. (129‐132) 
The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, (179) 
He’ll shape his old course in a country new. (184) 
We shall further think of it. (301) Word omission

Shakespeare will often omit words we would not drop in normal speech. (The verb to go often disappears, as it does in line 28). Again, he’s often preserving the meter or adding emphasis. What words are missing from these lines? 
The gods to their dear shelter take thee, maid, (179) 
Bid them farewell, Cordelia, though unkind. (257) Shifting Parts of Speech

Shakespeare will often create a new word by changing the part of speech of a familiar one. France says Cordelia’s misdeed must be monstrous by verbalizing the noun monster: “Her offence/Must be of such unnatural degree/That monsters it” (217). Explain the similar shifts in the following lines: 
Thou losest here, a better where to find. (258) 
And find I am alone felicitate In your dear Highness’ love. (71‐72) 161
KING LEAR 1.1 Production Questions 1.
If Lear plans to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, why do Kent and Gloucester talk as if they already know he is going to split it between Albany and Cornwall? (1‐6) 2. Why does Kent change the subject so suddenly and quickly? (7) 3. Does Edmund hear what his father says about him? (8‐21) If so, how does he react? If not, does someone enter with him at line 1? Who? 4. In what tone does Gloucester deliver the comments about Edmund? Are they comments bitter insults? good‐humored joking? didactic warnings? something else? Is his audience for these lines Kent or Edmund or himself or some combination of the three? 5. What is the ‘subtext’ of Edmund’s line ‘I must love you’? (26) Do you want the actor to say ‘must’ in a tone that shows that he means he feels a desire? he feels a social obligation? he is obliged to follow his father’s unreasonable orders? Something else? 6. Does Edmund react to Gloucester’s statement that ‘away he shall again’? (28) If so, how? 7. To whom is Lear speaking in the first part of line 33? Where did the map come from? What does it look like? Does Lear take it? put it on a table? the floor? the wall? 8. How big a crowd is on stage here? Do you want a huge court assembly with a score of unnamed courtiers looking on? Is it more of a family gathering? Something else? 9. We learn in line 44 that it’s a special day at court. How does Lear say lines 41‐44? How do those on stage react? Cordelia? Burgundy? France? Kent? Goneril? Regan? 10. Has Lear prepared this speech? Is he delivering it impromptu or from notes? How attentively is each of the others listening? Why? 11. Why on earth does Lear suddenly break away from announcing his favorite daughter’s engagement to start the ‘love test’? Notice that Shakespeare doesn’t even let him wait until the end of a line. 12. The parenthetical lines 45‐46 do not appear in the Quarto version of the play. Should they be included here? If so, in what tone do you want the actor to read them? 13. Do Goneril and Regan know this game is coming? Are they delivering prepared speeches? 14. Shakespeare has Lear mention Goneril and Regan’s children, knowing that neither has one to inherit the kingdom (lines 62 and 76). Is he mocking them or their husbands? Implying a request? a command? something else? 15. What possible topics or themes of the play might Shakespeare be signaling this early in these lines:  Out of my sight! See better, Lear, and let me still remain The true blank of thine eye. (154‐56)  a wretch whom Nature is ashamed Almost t’ acknowledge hers. (209‐210)  That we our largest bounty may extend Where nature doth with merit challenge (48‐49)  be Kent unmannerly When Lear is mad. (142‐43)  To plainness honour’s bound, When majesty falls to folly. (145‐46)  Who covers faults, at last with shame derides. (278) 162
Close Reading Practice King Lear Act 1, scene 1 Diction 1 Cordelia [aside]: And yet not so, since I am sure my love’s More ponderous than my tongue. 1.1.74‐75 DISCUSS 1.
What meaning of her love for her father does Cordelia intend by the word ‘ponderous’? 2. What impression of the love her sisters have described does the word ‘ponderous’ imply? (And, for fun, are those implications Cordelia’s or Shakespeare’s?) APPLY Write a comment about yourself or someone else in which you use a word normally reserved for physical size or weight or the like to describe an abstract part of personality. Diction 2 France: Not all the dukes of waterish Burgundy Can buy this unprized precious maid of me. 1.1.255‐56 DISCUSS 3. What different meanings can the King of France intend by using the word ‘waterish’? 4. How would the line’s effect change if the word ‘river‐fed’ is substituted? APPLY Write two lines of blank verse in which a descriptive word carries a quibble similar to Shakespeare’s. Detail 1 Goneril: Sir, I love you more than words can wield the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space, and liberty, Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare, No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour; As much as child e'er lov'd, or father found; A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable: Beyond all manner of so much I love you. 1.1.51‐57 DISCUSS 5. What irony does Shakespeare intend by the detail in Goneril’s profession that her love makes ‘speech unable’? 6. Which of the other details she mentions might impress Lear? APPLY Compose a list of at least five details Shakespeare might have had Goneril mention that could have made her profession of love more convincing. 163
Detail 2 Cordelia: It is no vicious blot, murther, or foulness, No unchaste action, or dishonoured step, That hath deprived me of your grace and favour, But even for want of that for which I am richer— A still‑soliciting eye, and such a tongue That I am glad I have not…. 1.1.224‐29 DISCUSS Imagery 2 Lear: For by the sacred radiance of the sun, The mysteries of Hecate and the night; By all the operation of the orbs, From whom we do exist and cease to be; Here I disclaim all my paternal care…. 1.1.106‐110 DISCUSS 11. What do the images of sun, night, and orbs reveal to the audience about Lear’s state of mind in this speech? 7. Cordelia gives specific examples of the ‘vicious blot’ and ‘foulness’ she says she does not have. What general term would encompass the two virtues she names? APPLY 8. Why is the line more effective than if she simply named a general category of virtue? Write a brief paragraph in which you use imagery of light from the sky to create a tone for a reader. 12. Into what categories could you fit the set of images in these lines? APPLY Syntax 1 Rewrite the last two lines mentioning ‘hand’ and ‘ear’ as details instead of ‘eye’ and ‘tongue’. Lear: Cordelia: Imagery 1 DISCUSS Lear: — Now our joy, Although our last and least, to whose young love The vines of France and milk of Burgundy Strive to be interessed 1.1.79‐81 DISCUSS 9. What is the effect of Lear’s using the images of ‘vines’ and ‘milk’ instead of directly naming Cordelia’s two suitors? 1.
So young, and so untender? So young, my lord, and true. 1.1.103‐104 What is the effect of Shakespeare’s having Cordelia echo in her answer the syntax of her father’s question? 2. The pattern of blank verse is broken by the syntax in these two lines. What ideas might Shakespeare be suggesting by that break? APPLY Write two lines of blank verse in which one character answers another; have the character echo the syntax of the question in the answer. 10. How would the audience’s reaction differ if Lear simply said “to whose young love two princes strive to be interessed”? APPLY Compose a list of six places—countries, states, or regions—and identify an appropriate image similar to Lear’s for each. 164